A/N 04/30/2023: Huge update, I rewrote basically everything and touched up a lot of places.
"Hah! Missed me!"
In the depths of an ancient Shuriman temple, two warriors face off against an army of Voidborn. The creatures are weak but persistent, a flood of bodies seeking to devour all in their path. Their battleground is a series of four small bridges, suspended over an infinite void by a few stone pillars each. The cathedral would have been grand in its heyday, but the high roof and deeper drops only serve to further hinder their movements.
And yet neither is particularly worried.
Ezreal smirks as he fires another Mystic Shot, propelling a bundle of insects into the holes below. The blue jewel within his pockets hums with energy, and he takes a moment to toy with it as he flickers in and out of combat.
"Tear of the Goddess huh? You and me, we're going to be good-"
A Voidling soars right past his head, and the explorer quickly shoots it out of the air: before ducking from another aerial attack. The purple bug screeches as it falls, legs flailing uselessly.
"Woah, woah relax-" He taunts. "You guys really have to work on your aim, here's a few pointers-"
"Eyes on the enemy."
"Precision over power-"
"And remember kids," He says - juggling the priceless artifact in his free hand. "First strike wins!"
Another plethora of shots, and then Ezreal warps just out of reach - suspended over the abyss for a few seconds. He looks down, makes an exaggerated gasp, before warping back to another bridge.
Sure, he could have shifted over to the bridges without stopping halfway over certain death; but what fun would that be?
His temporary ally tore through the Voidborn by sheer might, a living rocket propelled by purple fire. Her plasma blasts are precise and careful, a stark contrast to his reckless firing of the gauntlet. Had Ezreal not been able to see her human face, beautiful in the way that a refurbished vintage sword was, he would have thought her to be one of them.
Another swarm of monsters rises from below.
They make a beeline for his monstrous ally, and the girl barely dodges out of the way as the living river splashes on the wall. Seeing an opportunity to finish the fight with a bit of style, the Prodigy of Piltover readied his coup de grace.
"Eat this!"
The gauntlet of Ne'Zuk whirrs with power as he channels all of his energy into his ultimate move, an arcing wave of light that evaporates all of the remaining insects. Ezreal yawns dramatically, kicking a pebble into the seemingly endless darkness below.
"No need to thank me, trust me I get it all the time. Just another day's work for the Number One Explorer, Adventurer and Archeologist."
BOOM.
The entire chamber shakes as his "Trueshot Barrage" impacts one of the walls. Ezreal goes pale at the first sign of trouble, but when nothing happens; he lets himself let out a sigh of relief.
"Never punished."
The girl did not share his enthusiasm. The strange warrior snaps to look at him, intentions unclear.
"So, you from around he-"
"Why did you do that?"
Somehow, Ezreal got the sense he had done something very very wrong. "What? Do wha-"
He is interrupted by a constant low rumble, the entire temple shaking. It was like standing on one of those Piltovan mining rigs. Except he was the one on the ground and not safe at the top of the tower.
The ground shakes, and the half of the bridge beneath the mystery girl disintegrates.
"Crabsticks!"
Ezreal curses, before blinking forward and grabbing onto her outstretched arm with both hands. It takes all of his strength to not roll forward into the abyss with the added load. Arcane Shifting was out of the option, he could barely carry himself. Much less a whole other person.
"Woah! You're so heavy! Maybe consider lightening up on the calories will you-" He laughs at his own joke, disguising expertly the fact that his boots were skittering closer to the edge. "Or maybe, I don't know, actually do something before we-"
The girl scoffs, before her cannons turn backwards and flare to life. For a split second: they are flying. Ezreal foolishly thinks that they might make it out.
Then one of the cannons bursts with purple blood and carapace, sputtering pathetically in the air before going dark. The armor and not the girl let out an ear piercing scream, buried beneath the roar of the Earth and the crashing of falling rubble.
And just like that, they are falling.
"Oh fu-"
A firm hand grabs tightly onto his coat and another drags on the wall. The girl's claws dig into the stone walls, and she expertly uses her remaining cannon to slow their fall.
It's not enough.
As the ground approaches, Ezreal does some quick calculations in his head: and uses the last bit of energy in the tank to blink at an angle.
Both of them skid across the ground, and unlike his partner: Ezreal didn't have much in the way of armor to shield him. But years of parkour did not go to waste as he stuck the landing, managing to not get his skull caved in from hitting a rock on the way down. There's a slight pain in his right leg - but the explorer tactfully ignores it.
"Ugh. Remind me to get some better gear when I get back to Piltover."
Despite falling for nearly a billion miles, the girl's armor remained completely unscathed. Assessing his surroundings, which unfortunately consisted of debris and hallways covered in purple gunk, Ezreal realizes just how large the temple was. The structure was probably very unstable, and that last attack of his must have-
"Oh shit."
Looking up only deepens his anxiety. The temple went deep: climbing back up would be less than futile. Even worse, he couldn't use his Arcane Shift as a 'get out of jail free' card. Ezreal wasn't willing to risk teleporting a few meters off, and falling into one of the three other bottomless pits.
Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the girl rising: armor plating rustling and shifting to accommodate her movements. It fit tightly across her body, which he couldn't imagine being comfortable in the slightest. Whatever technology it used, he had never heard of it. Which was saying something, considering how Ezreal had at least heard about everything.
Well, no problem. At least he had what he came for in his back pocket. Ezreal reaches in for the Tear of the Goddess, only to feel nothing but fabric and a bit of lost sand.
"Crap."
With her adaptability, Kai'Sa had long assumed that nothing could surprise her anymore.
The huntress had been proven wrong.
A human explorer in this part of Shurima was rare, much less one brazen enough to be in such a hostile place. Sure, there did end up being Crawlers at the temple- but Kai'Sa was more surprised about the fact that he didn't run when she gave him the chance to. Either he was the bravest of explorers, or the dumbest. She was leaning towards the latter, considering it was his unnecessary final attack that got her trapped down here.
"By the way," The explorer chimes in, his Piltovan accent strong. "Have you seen a small dark blue rock shaped like a teardrop and brimming with magical potential?"
She gave him a cold glare - but the gesture goes right over his oblivious head.
"Well, guess I'll take that as a no, but it would be a real help if you kept on looking out for it. Now, I know what you're thinking- he's a thief! He must be! I'm not offended- trust me I'm not. Well it's not technically grave robbing once a temple gets old enough, like really- what's the difference between robbing someone's house and robbing an old castle if not a bit of time, eh?"
Was he really trying to make a joke in these circumstances?
It wasn't a funny one either.
"Besides," He continues unhindered. "At least I'm going to put it to use, it's not like I'm going to send it off to some old musty museum so old geezers can gawk at it from behind a glass cube."
She didn't know what any of those words meant. Didn't care either.
"So, do you speak Piltovan?"
"..."
"Well, no problemo, I speak most languages - dead and alive and whatever is in between. Heck, I even speak a bit of sign language, or I can sign sign language, but I'm sure you get my drift."
The armored girl turns overhead, pale face illuminated by the living artillery on her shoulders. As soon as it had become too dark to see, her armor had come to life: washing them both in dull purple light. Kai'Sa noticed immediately that he was a foreigner, blonde hair tousled messily with a few scrapes and bruises marring one cheek.
"I speak Shuriman."
Kai'Sa was hoping he'd stop talking now that she gave him an answer. He didn't.
"Great! Name's Ezreal, you know, the number one Explorer, Adventurer and Archeologist!"
Kai'Sa brushes past him without another word She did not have time for this Ezreal and his antics, she had work to be done. Work she had to do on her own.
"Hey- hey wait up-"
Something touches her. Kai'Sa's remaining cannon threatens to fire: the light being more than enough to push a flustered Ezreal backwards. Kai'Sa was used to fear, but something about the boy's expression struck a nerve in the cold huntress. The plasma in her blood cools down.
"Do not touch me."
She continues to move forward. Her second skin groans with every movement, scales crackling and popping with new growth. The enemy and the fall must have done a number on it, if the broken cannon was any indication. Kai'Sa would have to find a place to rest for the moment. She rubbed one armored hand on her dry lips, thankfully her keen senses told her there was water somewhere nearby.
"Where are we going by the way?" Ezreal speaks again, though his voice is a bit softer. "I'm assuming you know where to go, right?"
"Water."
"Oh. Gotcha."
Suddenly, she hears something drop behind her. The girl immediately turns: weapons glowing and trained at the skittering of the stones beneath them.
Her new traveling companion is leaning on the walls, whistling inconspiciously as if to steady his breathing. The Daughter of the Void pieces things together. The fall from earlier, it must have hurt his softer body. She lowers her weapons.
"What are you doing?"
"Me?" Ezreal smirked, arm clutching at his leg. "I'm just relaxing, just give me a moment."
Perhaps That was why he was so talkative- dead men tended to blabber to distract themselves from the end. Part of her seethed at his weakness, Kai'Sa could not afford to be slowed down by anything. Every second she spent not fighting was a second more for them to proliferate, and a second more that they could spread their influence across Shurima. As with nature, the wounded would die; and the strong would move on in their stead. Humans, animals and the Voidborn all followed these rules.
But as much as she wanted to leave him to his fate, Kai'Sa could not bring herself to do it. A small but vocal part of her was pushing her forward, an irritatingly persistent empathy softening the harsh glare that often masked the huntress' true emotions.
"Let me help."
"Help?" He asks. "No, I don't need help- why would I need help? I just like- a timeout. Yeah, five minutes."
Kai'Sa found it odd how he was trying to hide his clearly visible pain.
"Go on. Shoo." Ezreal gestures. "I'll catch up with you in a second."
"..."
"What? Is there something on my fa-"
Kai'Sa ignores his panicked explanations and verbal deflections, lifting him up in her arms. Ezreal was lighter than she thought. The explorer inhales sharply, before fiddling with his strange metal glove and going quiet. He was trembling; likely because of being so close to a monstrous being like her. Kai'Sa was used to it, focusing on the road ahead instead of him.
Ezreal mumbles something under his breath in what she assumed was Piltovan: face turning red.
"What? Do you need me to adjust?"
"No, no it's nothing."
Ezreal was not a man of religion, but he thanked the Gods when he found a health potion miraculously intact in his pockets. He had never drunk one so quick in his life, eager to get this humiliating display over with. How could the Number One Explorer in all of Piltover stoop so low to be carried by a random desert girl?! Ezreal was so not going to tell anyone on this.
"Alright, I think I'm good to-"
The girl drops him.
"Yup, worked like a charm." He manages from the ground, stretching his healed leg. "I'm going to buy a cauldron's worth of this stuff when I get back. Maybe two."
The girl have him another frown, not winded from carrying Ezreal for what felt like kilometers in pure darkness. It dawns on him that she was far too calm for someone having just fought a horde of monsters. Up close, the explorer noticed her armor shift: as if it were alive.
"Why are you still here?"
"What?"
"You could have left. I gave you the chance." She narrowed her eyes. "Is this a trick of some kind?"
Truthfully, the explorer didn't really know why he did what he did. He was kind of starting to regret it now, considering the circumstances. Then again, without him the girl would have been trapped here all alone: and that didn't strike Ezreal as the heroic thing to do.
"I mean, what kind of gentleman wouldn't escort a damsel in distress through a perilous trap-filled ruin?"
His attempts at lightening the mood seems to have the exact opposite as he intended, the girl's frown growing slightly deeper. Looks like he'd have to bring out the big guns: honesty and the good ol' Ezreal charm.
"Ok, well - honestly I don't really have a choice do I?" He shrugged. "I can't find my way out here, and you seem trustworthy enough. I mean, we just met, but I get the feeling that you know your way around here better than I do. Besides, we can help each other: two heads are better than one, no?"
The girl stops in her tracks. A cold shiver runs up his spine at the way she stares at him with such furious intensity.
"And what if I hurt you? Or killed you?"
"Nah, I don't think you would do that." He laughs nervously. Ezreal shifts to her left side, the one with the broken cannon. "After all, if you wanted me dead you wouldn't have carried me back there. Right?"
"You want to be here?"
She looked offended, her brows scrunched together in deep thought.
"Why not? You seem nice enough."
It's impossible for him to read her face, considering how she seemed to have a single expression (a perpetual grimace). But Ezreal could tell he said the right thing when the girl's shoulders loosened, regarding him with a little less hostility than before.
"I see."
"What's your name by the way?"
The girl tilts her head, looking at him like he was speaking a foreign language. Ezreal makes a mental note to practice more of his Shuriman once he gets out of here. Her social awkwardness only makes him even more awkward.
"Kai'Sa."
"Ooh, fancy. I've never heard of that dialect of Shuriman before."
Another silence. Kai'Sa gives him one last unreadable look, before walking forwards. While Ezreal would have loved to take the time to go down every last hallway, perhaps to find some treasure or brave a trap or two, he knew now was not the time.
Because unless the purple insects turned into steaks, the two of them were going hungry.
"It is Icathian."
"Excuse me?"
"My name." Kai'Sa reached one hand outwards, bathing the hallway in purple light. Seeing as her magical armor was both their light source and only weapon, Ezreal was glad to have it around. It was sloping upwards slightly, usually a good sign. "Icathian."
"Wait, Icathia? As in the lost city Icathia?"
"Yes."
Ezreal takes a second to process the information, nearly tripping over a rock in his fugue state. Thankfully, Kai'Sa didn't see that.
"Wait, Icathia is real?"
During his first trip to the supposed location of the lost city, Ezreal had faltered at the last second: a string of accidents preventing him from entering into its ancient walls. But with Kai'Sa by his side, the explorer was liking the odds of a return visit. She was used to fighting, and was most certainly connected to the city in some convoluted way Ezreal would and did not want to delve into. With the two of them side by side, Ezreal began to excite himself with an imagined menagerie of lost treasures in Icathia's ebony walls: even an authentic Icathian toothpick or rock could turn Ezreal into an archeological superstar!
"Have you ever been there?" He asked eagerly. "Actually, can you take me there?"
Thanks to her mask sliding back over her face, Kai'Sa's voice is distorted. It's harsher than before, with a slight hiss at the end of every word. "No."
"What? Why not?"
"You do not want to know."
Her words shatter his daydreams with the finality of a wrecking hammer. Ezreal considered poking her more, but Kai'Sa was not in the mood to talk; if her glower was any indication.
Resigning himself to silence, the explorer kicked a rock along the floor: dreaming of the day he could finally see Icathia for himself.
Eventually, they found water.
A small underground pool, a murky brown mirage that seemed to go down to infinity. Her instincts had been right yet again: now Kai'Sa could probably survive long enough down here for her second skin to heal and fly her out of this temple.
And away from her new travelling companion.
"Euch." Ezreal pokes at the surface of the water, flinching as it splashed onto him. "This stuff looks dirtier than a public bathroom in Zaun."
"On a side note, I'm 20 percent sure that there's a giant slime monster in the sewers. I've never seen it, but when sewage pipes tend to burst and half the city knows not to go near drainage pipes after rainstorms, you know something is up. You sure this water isn't alive?"
Again, he rambles on of cities far from the desert. Kai'Sa feels a twinge of nostalgia, remembering her father and his own tales of such places. It was hard for her to imagine that anything outside of the deserts of Shurima and the horrors of the Void existed. While Kai'Sa resented the creature that had ruined her life, she did have to admit it had its uses: dipping one claw into the dirty water.
"Wait, what are you doing-"
When she raises her hand again, the water is crystal clear. Kai'Sa notices Ezreal looking at her, mouth agape and eyes widened in shock. She took a minute to drink: letting the coldness of the water meld with the hot plasma running through her blood.
"My suit purifies water."
"Oh. Oh right, yeah. I knew that the whole time."
"..."
"I don't need that hand water of yours by the way." He says, with a smug grin. "Because I knew you were totally going to offer me some. I'll just take some on my own."
Bringing out the glass vial, the explorer dips it into the water- recoiling at the stench. So big was this explorer's pride that he would rather poison himself than accept her help. It was amusing and annoying, but Kai'Sa found the former emotion was a bit stronger than the latter.
"Yum. Can't wait to find what diseases this contains."
"Give it here."
Kai'Sa sticks out her hand, to emphasize he had no choice in the matter. Reluctantly, Ezreal hands it over.
The water gradually becomes clear as the obliterating power of the Void erases all impurities, Kai'Sa focusing on preventing her plasma from scorching the water along with it.
"Well thanks but-"
She returned his vial, and despite his mask of nonchalance - Kai'Sa noticed the thirst written all over his face. Ezreal chugged the liquid without complaint, sighing in pure relief.
"Damn that's-" He pauses, wiping his mouth. Clearly, the explorer was more than a little embarrassed. "I owe you one. Thank you."
Both of them sit on opposite sides of the room, Kai'Sa leaving one hand immersed in the water so her suit could have its own drink. Her mind wanders as she savors her well-deserved moment of peace.
Her stomach rumbles.
"You good back there?" He suddenly pipes up, looking concerned. "Are you hungry? I have some food in my-"
Ezreal reaches for something behind him- air. He slaps his palm on his forehead.
"Nevermind. Left it upstairs. I swear, when I get up there I am strapping everything I have on myself with chains. Maybe I can even swing them around to attack people."
"What?"
"Hm. Nothing, it's a stupid idea. Who would even use chains to fight people?"
She scrutinized every bit of the boy's face, trying to call his bluff. Ezreal seemed so determined to talk to her, to make her laugh with his corny jokes. Kai'Sa quickly reminded herself to not get too close. He was just like the humans: even if he did seem a tad more courageous than the rest for just being near her. Deep down, Ezreal was afraid of her; they all were. Kai'Sa had a gut feeling that he was just using her for his own gain, he would most certainly run the second he had a chance.
This was fake. This is not real. He does not care.
But Kai'Sa's instincts insisted that his emotions are genuine. At least, genuine enough to fool her keen instincts. Her heart races for no apparent reason. The huntress tightened her claws on the ground, pushing aside these new emotions. Kai'Sa did not need anyone else. She could handle herself.
"What are those markings?" Ezreal piped up, breaking their delicate silence. "The purple streaks. Two on forehead, four on your cheeks."
"I do not know."
"Really? Next thing you're gonna tell me is that you've never showered."
"..."
"Seriously? They're on your face, how do you not know about them? That's like saying someone doesn't know about their nose."
Kai'Sa gives him the coldest look that she can muster. Ezreal broke eye contact in an instant, focusing instead on brushing his dirty gloves on the side of his coat.
"Well that's important anyway, people shouldn't look at themselves too often." He chuckles dryly, backpedaling faster than Kai'Sa had ever seen him do. "Even I can't stand looking at myself sometimes, makes me feel vain and icky. And I wasn't calling you ugly or anything, by the way. You're not ugly."
Was he implying that he was not repulsed by her? Not even by a bit? Ezreal had to be joking.
"Well, alright then, I'm going to check out what's over there."
The explorer stretches dramatically, eyeing the other side of the pool. He disappears with a POP, leaving a shimmering cloud of golden energy. Without his constant questions, the huntress slumped backwards onto the wall; the flesh of her suit acting as a bearable cushioning. Ever since she had become one with this thing, Kai'Sa could barely feel anything below her neck on her human body. Anything more than that would require her to remove the Void parasite.
Did she still even look human?
Ezreal clearly thought so, then again Kai'Sa had seen firsthand the boy's poor judgement. He was certainly the type to attempt to befriend a Voidborn if left alone with it, before it inevitably betrayed him and devoured his corpse. Her hand reached a small shard of metal, a broken part of some kind of shield. Ezreal would have probably known what it was. Kai'Sa brought it up her face, inspecting her reflection on the smooth surface. She rubbed one hand on her chin and cheeks, noticing that the purple marks in a rough triangle around her face.
Her claw traced the tip; feeling the warmth from the plasma beneath her skin.
"Finally, some good luck!"
Ezreal whoops with joy from a ways away, and he warps back to her with a charming smile across his face. Her dour mood had not done anything to stifle his ruthless enthusiasm. The blond points at something in the distance, laughing and wheezing at the same time.
"Stairs. Going up." Ezreal pumps a fist up into the air. "We're going home baby! And we don't even have to risk our lives that much!"
Looking in the direction he indicates, she sensed a subtle change in wind: a light breeze that indicated a way out. Kai'Sa checked her second cannon, and it was still in the process of healing.
"Well, now you can consider us even!"
"Even?"
"I mean, I couldn't have found or made it here without you - much less drink that yucky tomb water. And, let's be honest, I doubt that you could have survived the fall without my timely Arcane Shift with the gauntlet; plus, now I've found a way out for the both of us. We're even now."
Kai'Sa did not ask or have need of his help, but she found herself appreciating the enthusiasm in his smile. His enthusiasm was infectious, brightening the room. Perhaps she should entertain this game of his, at least until they parted ways outside of the temple.
"Hm."
"Yeah yeah, don't thank me. I get it all the time. Number One and all that." He smirked, running a hand along his hair. "Now let's go - the Temple isn't escaping itself is it? Wait, no that one didn't make sense..."
As Ezreal muttered to himself excitedly, Kai'Sa notices the two streaks of blue on either side of his face - flickering like that of the Void monsters she so often fought. Her hands traced along her face.
Perhaps the two of them were more similar than she had thought.
"Ah crap. You ever get that feeling like everything is going a bit too well?"
Surprisingly, Kai'Sa doesn't respond with dead silence. Maybe what felt like hours of walking in dead silence had finally gotten to the girl, or Ezreal had finally gotten her out of her shell a little bit.
"Yes."
"Oh wow- that's dark. Well, have a little hope." Ezreal blinked over a hole in the stairs. "You never know when things might just work out on their own. Life goes up, you know what I mean?"
"My enemy is eternal and all-consuming. The Void will destroy all if I do not stop it, and even if I did- I would still be just another monster for humanity to kill. What is there to hope for?"
At such utter bleak desolation, Ezreal is left stunned.
"World peace? Eternal fame and glory? True love's kiss?" He tries. "Actually, on second thought, you're more of a 'love is dead' kind of person aren't you?"
"Love? Dead?"
"It's a metaphor."
"Ugh."
"Point is, you shouldn't be so hopeless all the time." Ezreal shifts over a hole in the ground. "You're not totally screwed, after the Void dies or whatever- people will see you as a hero. I mean, I think you're pretty cool- doesn't that count?"
No comment. Kai'Sa probably didn't even care.
Their path takes them across many rooms, most of which are either empty or filled with sand. While Ezreal would have spent hours digging through each one, because his explorer senses were going haywire, he just wanted to go back to his apartment in Piltover. The terrain abruptly changes, going from sandstone and rock to a weird black material. Kai'Sa tenses when they pass through; purple streaks across her armor glowing brighter. Now Ezreal was sure there was something wrong with it.
"Is this the Void thing you keep worrying about?"
"Part of it. Be careful."
They come upon a large chasm, a dozen or so stone pillars providing them with a possible way of crossing. Ezreal notices how irregular the walls of the canyon are- like a giant took their hand and scooped up the gunk around them.
"Race you?"
Kai'Sa is tense, but takes off without protest. Ezreal marvels at the way she moves. Her feet barely touch the pillars- and even when they do, only the barest of dust is kicked off before Kai'Sa is already onto the next one. It carried the grace and rhythm of a dancer, mixed with the brutal efficiency of a trained soldier. For someone who lived in the desert, she would have fight right in among Piltover's Enforcers. Kai'Sa even had the frown to match.
Ezreal waits for her to reach the other end, before effortlessly blinking across. He brushed the dust off his shoulder, smiling coyly once he sees Kai'Sa glare at him with a hint of shock.
"What? Sore loser?"
An eye roll. "Hmph."
Bored, Ezreal glanced towards the glowing purple dripping from the walls: eerily similar to the projectiles that Kai'Sa used in battle. The jelly-like material dripped onto the ground, soft and spongy under their footsteps. It was so unnatural, like a giant beehive with a disgusting Bizarro version of honey. Ezreal hoped he wouldn't run into any of the 'bees' in the figurative hive.
"What's this stuff by the way? Is it edible?"
Suddenly, a hand slaps his own out of the air. The explorer retreats back to her side, noticing he had stepped far closer than he realized.
"Point taken."
Both sigh in relief when the hive material is gradually replaced by sandstone, tendrils faltering into the shadows. He had never been more relieved to see sandstone and sand of all things, Ezreal figured he would have gotten bored of it after his years of adventuring. A bit of wind ruffles his hair. Upon turning a corner, the room finally opens up: revealing the same vast antechamber that Ezreal had first entered through so long ago.
While the center of the cathedral remained the same, illuminated by light from the distant skylight, everything around it was in rubble. The bridge where he and Kai'Sa had fallen through remained broken, scattered rocks and dirt lining the already narrow surface area. Ezreal carefully stepped over a rock in their path, the distant howl of the wind pushing them onward. Had he been more cautious, he would have noticed that Kai'Sa had stopped moving: scanning through the room uneasily.
A flash of blue.
"Oh! It's the Tear!"
The sapphire sat unharmed in all of its glory, laying atop of the central altar. Without a second though, the boy blinked forward with his charged gauntlet: reaching around the jewel greedily and slipping it into his pocket.
The altar moves upward.
"What the-"
A pair of biting jaws snaps in the air, barely missing his hand. Ezreal shrieked in a distinctly unmasculine way as the creature soared over him, landing onto the ground between him and his friend. It hissed; slamming a muscular hail onto the ground and howling a challenge.
Xer'Sai
Ezreal had only heard of these things, and now he was finally face to face with one. It was a fully grown monster of a creature, covered in dark purple armor. The Xer'Sai drooled onto the ground as it listened for his breathing, Ezreal remaining as still as he could. It was blind, meaning that if he didn't move - the creature would grow bored and-
A purple explosions nearly sent it tumbling to the side, the Xer'Sai whirling over to face its new opponent.
Unlike him, Kai'Sa was not backing down in the slightest; facing the monster with no fear apparent on her mask. While her plasma missiles did about as much damage as a raindrop on a rock, they were wearing it down bit by bit: the continuous explosions staggering the beast and tearing chunks off its exoskeleton. She was blindingly fast, even with one cannon Kai'Sa still managed to outpace the creature's messy lunges.
"Stop!" He shouted above the carnage. "The temple's going to collapse! Just stop moving and let it leave!"
His words cost him. The Xer'Sai pivoted towards him, firing its own barrage of plasma from a cannon on its back. Ezreal narrowly avoided the initial explosion, but the aftershock staggered him in place: sending him sprawling onto one of the more intact bridges with a groan. His ears ring. As he recovers, Ezreal spots a blue glimmer teetering on the edge. The Tear of the Goddess. It was going to fall.
He blinks forward, ducking for the crystal just before it slides into the abyss.
"Gotcha!"
The air shifted at that exact moment, something large leaping for his exposed back with a terrifying roar.
Time slows down as the monster closes the gap, lunging forward without regard for his silence. The missile must have marked him or something - but Ezreal had no time to ruminate on that. His gauntlet is unable to charge another Arcane Shift so soon, the cooldown frustratingly long as the Xer'Sai's jaws moved in to close around his throat. The explorer shut his eyes, raising his arms in futility.
At least someone was going to tell his story.
But the pain never comes.
A black blur impacts the monster, her armored arm caught in between its jaws. Both Kai'Sa and the Xer'Sai drop to the side, but only one can fly. She lands onto the bridge with a cloud of dust, but Ezreal can barely hear her over the drumming of his own heart. His breathing is too heavy, rational mind shutting down from the flood of panic coursing through his veins. Not once in his entire life had Ezreal been that close to Death.
"Are you ok?" Her voice, almost concerned, breaks through the ringing in his ears. "Ezreal? Can you move?"
He couldn't find it in himself to follow. The explorer's eyes were unfocused, one hand on his rattling chest.
The bridge beneath them shifts.
Like an unholy devil, the Xer'Sai erupted from beneath the bridge: jaws snapping around the girl's arm. Kai'Sa had only been distracted for a moment, but it was for a moment too long.
Bone crunches.
A glimpse of red splattered across black armor.
A scream, painfully human.
The world returned to focus as the Xer'Sai released its hold, sending Kai'Sa crashing into the altar like a limp toy.
The fear disappears. It is replaced by a mindless rage.
Ezreal's fists clench until they turn blue. He shot up to his feet with purpose, overclocking his weapon as he took aim at the bastard that had dared hurt his friend. The gauntlet listens to his emotions, to his heart. String pulled taut. Heat wells from his cheeks. The Xer'Sai growled upon hearing the crackle of sparks from the gauntlet, charging towards him with a mighty screech.
No flashy moves.
No dumb catchphrases.
The Trueshot Barrage is a radiant blue, a knife made out of energy and emotion. The vertical arc bisects the creature into two halves, before a flurry of furious bolts turns its corpse into a visceral cloud. Ezreal falls to one knee, energy spent, but he pushes himself to rise. The boy wiped the sweat from his brow, and a bit of blood from his chin. The gauntlet's magic choked the air out of his lungs, but Ezreal couldn't afford to rest.
She was in danger. She needed his help.
Kai'Sa is not the cold stoic girl he had found all those hours ago. She is breathing shallow breaths, weakly holding onto her injured arm. The mask's expression is far too calm for someone losing that amount of blood.
"Holy shit, shit shit." Words crash into one another. "Kai'Sa, are you alright? What am I saying of course you're not alright look at your arm?!"
He pressed at her chest with one arm, but there was no pulse. Ezreal fiddled with her mask to try and find some kind of latch, but it was impossibly smooth; and warm. Kai'Sa's exposed wound was a dark red, visible even as he tried his best to avoid looking directly at it. One potion wouldn't be enough - but it was the best Ezreal could do.
"I- I might be able to help but- you need to open that mask - I-I don't know how to do it and-"
Her mask disappears, revealing a starkly beautiful face frozen in a gasp. Ezreal chokes on his words. He needed to be calm. He needed to be calm. Kai'Sa shuddered for breath. In the corner of his eyes, he sees a glimmer of hope; illuminated by the rays of a sunset. Ezreal makes the two Arcane Shifts faster than he can even think, emptying his entire backpack as soon as he returned to her side. Round potion bottles rolled onto the ground, and with trembling hands he begins to uncover as many as he can.
He couldn't lose another person so soon.
Not like this.
Kai'Sa awakens with a slight itch in her arm.
That was unusual.
She was still a bit drowsy, but it did not take long for her to begin piecing things together. The Xer'Sai had bitten through her armor. She assumed such a thing to be impossible, but the wound from the attack was there. Testing her limits, Kai'Sa flexes her right arm, wincing as pain runs up her shoulder. She was more surprised that she was even able to move the limb at all. Her second skin was already beginning to heal over, scales darkening with a new strength.
As they begun to close onto the cavity, the girl noticed a brown bandage underneath.
Did he do this?
Her breathing calms as her eyes gradually adjust to the low light environment, illuminated only by a weak campfire. As if sensing her stare, Ezreal glanced over his shoulder: looking less composed than she had ever seen him. The boy messily scrambles to his feet, and Kai'Sa notices a pair of sandwiches in his hands. Both of them were wrapped in a transparent film, which brightened the vegetables and meats contained between the bread.
"W-why?"
Kai'Sa tries to sit up, but she puts a bit too much weight on her injured arm. Her human body's fragility made the girl sick. A pop. Ezreal reappeared a bit closer- offering her one of his sandwiches.
"No." With her free hand, the huntress managed to push aside his offerings. "Later."
"Come on, I know you want it."
Knowing that Ezreal would not leave her alone until she took it, the girl snatched the bread from his hands: peeling off the cover and taking a bite. It was far better than anything the desert had to offer. The explorer melted as soon as she did so, face flickering between a worried frown and a smile of relief. It eventually settled on the former, Ezreal suddenly unable to meet her eyes.
"I-I screwed up." He finally choked out. "I really, really did. Kai'Sa, I- I should have been better back there. If I had helped you then I- I am so so sorry for putting through this, I should have-"
Seeing the chipper explorer so downcast made Kai'Sa feel strangely emotional. Her claw somehow finds its way up to meet his, holding onto his hand tightly in reassurance.
"It is fine. We are even."
She is pulled into a hug.
Ezreal is careful to not press on her injured shoulder, burying his head into her armored chest. Not knowing what else to do, Kai'Sa set her claws onto his back; awkwardly grunting as he tightened his hold. After a moment, the blonde realizes that he had lingered for too long: disengaging and straightening the creases on his jacket.
"Yeah, sorry again, I know - you said no touching, and I touched and-"
"It is fine."
Her heart finally slowed down as Ezreal returned to his own place at the campfire, looking into the flames with a pensive expression. To be fair, he was a good hugger. Kai'Sa watched as her second skin finished covering up the wound on her arm, scales seamlessly covering over the red. She would have to remove the bandages later - a painful but necessary process.
The explorer took a seat next to her, throwing a little bit of firewood and letting the fire roar with newfound fuel. Kai'Sa shifted to one side, her hands brushing along discarded bottles. How many potions had he spent on her? No wonder Kai'Sa was healing so fast.
Ezreal, on the other hand, looked like he had seen better days. Her eyes linger on a few bruises marring his fair skin, hidden poorly by his tattered clothes. He did not have the luxury of a self-healing armor; actually, it was a miracle that the Xer'Sai's ranged attack had not shattered Ezreal completely.
"Did you take any potions for yourself?"
"I- It's not important. I can handle it."
A quick look around revealed that there was one potion left, the scarlet liquid sloshing as Kai'Sa picked up the bottle.
"Here."
"No, no I shouldn't - you need it more."
The girl scoffed, pressing it into his hands. Ezreal showed a little bit of resistance, but her glare was quick to break his composure; the explorer sipping half off the potion before handing it back to her.
"What's that hard bump in your chest by the way?"
"What do you mean?"
"I felt something small and a bit hard." The explorer rubs the general area on his own chest. "Beneath the armor."
She had almost forgotten she still had it.
Turning away from Ezreal's prying eyes, Kai'Sa exhaled; allowing the scales covering her chest to peel away temporarily. While the sight of the dozens of healed scars, mostly from the days when her second skin was beginning to attach to her, was grisly enough; her attention was on a small cubical object. Kai'Sa fished out the necklace from within her armor; holding it up to the light was her armor readjusted. The wood was chipped and burnt in several places, the grip completely missing, but the little bits of metal at the end were a hint at its original purpose.
"It is a hilt. From a knife."
"Why are you carrying it around?" His eyes glitter with a brief curiosity at the idea of a new artifact. "Is it magical? Spiritual? Some kind of Icathian jewelry?"
"It was given to me by my father." Kai'Sa tries to remember his name, but frustratingly none comes to her. "He was a merchant."
"Was? As in past-tense? "I- What happened? Is he-"
"I do not want to discuss that."
Ezreal, despite himself, does not press forward. Her intuition is keen; but she does not need it to see his discomfort at the topic. Kai'Sa wondered briefly if he had too had lost his parents.
Fiddling with the half of a dagger, Kai'Sa ran one claw along the grooves; familiar with every dent and gap in the woodwork. On one side is a faint engraving of her own name, written in her native tongue. A tongue that only she spoke after that the Void did to her home.
Back when it was her and her mother, she looked forward to seeing what gifts her father would bring home from distant lands. Kai'Sa would wait every day at the gate of their small village: watching the caravans for the familiar shadow of her father.
The girl closed her eyes, recalling faint memories of a better time. The warmth of a fire she shared not with this Piltovan stranger, but with her family. The rare nights spent listening to her father share stories of distant lands on the days he was in their village; acting out every character with their own unique accent just to make Kai'Sa laugh. Her mother coming in late into the night, gently ushering the little girl into bed and chastising her father for keeping her up so late. Sometimes, her father would sneak into her room and tell her a few stories before bed; singing an old lullaby that they had created together on the shores of their beach home.
Now it was gone. All of it.
Wiping away dust form her eyes, Kai'Sa takes a deep breath: silently berating herself for leaking precious moisture from her emotional outburst.
"H-hey, you ok? Need someone to talk to?"
Ezreal's voice shakes her out of her reverie, and the girl noticed that her clawed grip had nearly fractured her precious necklace. She returned it to the safety underneath her living armor, second skin enveloping her human flesh once again. The wood pressed against her chest - comforting and familiar.
"No."
The two of them sat close together under the firelight; huddled for warmth against the coldness of the desert night.
Ezreal had fucked up many, many times. This felt the worst by far.
He sat listlessly a distance away, unwilling to get close to her so soon. Ezreal was the cause of this mess, and he could tell Kai'Sa blamed him for it. First with his Trueshot Barrage collapsing the bridge, and now with his inability to fight nearly costing the girl her life. The helplessness and guilt twisted into his guts like a curved dagger; the explorer sprawling back onto the rocks with a groan.
"Can you tell me one of your stories?"
"Sorry? What?"
"You said you were an explorer. I would like to hear where you have been."
Kai'Sa looked up at him: her stone-face melting into a look between a scowl and a frown. She was his age, but her eyes were haunted: having witnessed far too much pain for someone so young. Ezreal had seen them somewhere before, on the faces of grizzled guides who had spent their whole lives wandering the deserts of Shurima. It hurt him to see her like this; especially knowing his role in the problem.
"A story? Honestly, I thought you didn't care."
"..."
Ah. How could he have been so dense? Ezreal coughed into his palm, before wracking his mind for anything that could help the girl take her mind off things. He briefly considered reading out his journal, but just the thought of it made him blush. Ezreal wanted to cheer Kai'Sa up, not make her to die of second hand embarrassment.
"Well- I have a few. From my parents that is."
"The earliest trip I remember was when they brought home this huge chunk of white rock. Petrichor or something." He holds his hands apart, spanning his shoulder's width. "It was like that big. Apparently they got it from the heartland of Demacia. My dad said it was part of a huge lance that belonged to a retainer who served Jarvan the Second, who ruled that part of the continent a very, very long time ago. They ran into a bit of trouble with border control - apparently their Hextech triggered some kind of magic detector. Demacia hates mages by the way, thank the Gods I'm not one of them."
He finds himself getting lost in nostalgia. His parents had many stories, and Ezreal had taken to memorizing them by heart.
There was that time in Bilgewater, fw
Or that time in the humid jungles of Ixtal, encountering a towering white-haired beast man on an endless hunt. Ezreal remembered laughing at that one quite hard when he was younger, and how his father had jokingly threatened to bring the lion man to their home if Ezreal ever misbehaved. He included this little detail in his recount, earning the barest hints of a smile from his one-woman audience.
His mother's favorite food were tacos, a Noxian dish they had sampled while on the run after an encounter with some kind of blood magic cult deadset on reviving an old king of Noxus.
His voice drops dramatically as he recounts their harrowing escape from barbarian tribes in the Freljord, a group of insane people worshipping a bear god. Somehow, his descriptions of the landscape - pristine rivers bluer than the sky and evergreen trees as tall as the mountains - was the part that interested Kai'Sa the most.
"Snow." She hummed. "Do you think Shurima could - contain it?"
"I don't know, maybe in the East? Heard Targon gets snowy some times of the year."
"Hm."
"Hey, don't look so sad - we can totally visit Targon sometime."
Which each little story and dumb joke, the girl began to relax. It was like watching the sun rise after a storm: little bits of light peeking out from a wall of darkness. Determined, Ezreal took a swig from his canteen; and pressed forward even though he was running out of stories.
The talk moved to failed expeditions. His mother was big on the whole 'learn from your mistakes' philosophy, and his father often countered that by saying that he 'made no mistakes'. Their back and forth made sure that family dinners were always a blast.
One time, his parents had gone to Shurima in search of a mysterious creature; the fabled Armordillo. A turtle with a golden shell that was said to bring good luck to anyone who could catch it, and had a craving for eating a certain kind of insect. His mother had almost caught it with a cleverly hidden trap, but the creature vanished into thin air at the last second. His dad would always tease her about it, saying she mistook a cactus for the Armordillo.
"Personally, I don't think it's real." Ezreal added. "Like, have you ever seen that kind of thing? In Shurima?"
Her puzzled expression was more than enough of an answer.
After a few more stories, Ezreal realized he was at the One - the last story they had ever told him before they left for Shurima. His words fail, clogging up his throat. Even as the explorer swallowed his nerves away, he could not bring himself to confront those memories.
"And yeah... That's what happened."
Unclenching and clenching the gauntlet in one hand, Ezreal let his sore throat rest for a moment: savoring the company as the wind howled outside. Seeing as they were camping near the entrance to the temple, somehow remaining upright through all of the battles, Ezreal could smell the desert; who knew that he would come to miss that smell of all things.
"Do you have any more?"
Kai'Sa had somehow moved closer without making a single noise, close enough to where Ezreal could see the whites of her violet eyes. They were hard not to look at, beautiful in the way of a gemstone or other such precious minerals were. Ezreal had never seen anything quite like them, and he doubted he ever would.
"More? He coughed into his palm, ruffling his hair. "More what? Stories?"
"Yes."
"T-that's all of them."
Ezreal ignored her piercing glare. It was like Kai'Sa knew exactly what had happened to them, and to her credit the girl did not pry. But his pain was bubbling beneath the surface, rising and popping persistently. Unable to hold back, it all came out at once.
"My parents - left me when I was a kid. They never came back from one of their little trips, and I-I haven't heard from them since. But they're out there, somewhere, and I'm going to find them no matter what."
Ezreal knew it was childish of him, but he refused to give up on them. His parents had to be out there, they had to be out there. It was stupid. Even his own Uncle, his father's brother, had given up hope. But Ezreal couldn't just stop searching. He needed to know, he needed to find out what happened to them.
And why they left.
Ezreal warily looked over, expecting a harsh scolding of his foolish ambitions.
Instead, the girl's voice was a whisper; cracked and brittle like a glass pane.
"Mine were taken from me as well."
"What? By who?"
"The Void."
And with that, Kai'Sa clammed up: hiding her emotions within an iron shell of cold silence. Her expression was weary and weak, and Ezreal gently laid an arm around her shoulder. To both of their surprises, she leaned inwards and further into his embrace. Not wanting to ruin the moment, Ezreal remained deathly still: letting the girl earn a bit of well-deserved comfort.
"Thank you."
"F-for what?"
"Telling your stories. It helped me."
After insisting for the dozenth time to Ezreal that her arm had already healed, lightly punching him in the shoulder to prove it, the explorer was content to let her go outside.
Kai'Sa inhales the desert air, fresh and cold. She feels the wind blow about her black hair, a simple sensation that the huntress had developed a newfound appreciation for. Her newly grown shoulder cannon had finally matched the size of its counterpart, no thanks in part to the potions.
"Whooo yeah!"
Right. Ezreal.
"We're free!" He leaps around the sand dunes, rapidly stretching and feeling the sand beneath with his hands. "And right on time too, fate is finally on our side!"
A distant speck of orange moves about the sand dunes. While the sight of a caravan would have meant nothing to Kai'Sa on any other day, tonight it was a harbinger of the end. Ezreal was going to leave; and she was going to have to return to her hunt alone. For all her attempts to prepare herself for this exact situation, the girl faltered - words coming out faster than she intends.
"This is it."
"What? What do you mean 'it'?"
"You are free. Go home."
"Home? To Piltover?" He says incredulously. "Now, hold on-"
Kai'Sa interrupts him. The longer he went on, the harder it would be for her to let him go. "Listen to me. The war against Void is mine and mine alone. You will be in danger if you stay."
"B-but I can handle myself! I have the gauntlet remember?"
"It is not enough. Not against the Void."
He looks downward, the orange line snaking closer and closer to their path; hiding the pain from her words. Kai'Sa knew that she was being excessively harsh, but it was for his own good. Ezreal was a good person, and not someone that needed to be forced into battle against an enemy as ruthless and cruel as the Void.
"I- I don't- fine. You know what? I get it. I'll leave." He throws his hands up into the air. "Well, it was nice hanging out with you blabla. Stay safe Kai'Sa."
He turned his back on her, but the huntress grabbed his shoulder.
"I will remember you. Ezreal. May you find your parents soon."
His name leaves a bittersweet taste in her mouth. The explorer looks at Kai'Sa one last time, one last attempt at being irritably insistent at being a good person, before disappearing with a pop of yellow. He reappeared a distance away, before another pop carried him out of sight.
There is only silence. An uncomfortable silence.
Refocusing her mind on other non-Ezreal things, Kai'Sa thought back to the Xer'Sai. It had wandered far from its home in the South, and she was going to find out why. The huntress dreaded the idea of returning underground so soon after reaching the surface, but she knew the Void would not wait for her. Reluctantly, she looked back to the temple; taking a few tentative steps towards the entrance of the cathedral they had just left.
POP!
It takes all of her power to reduce her surprise to a muffled squeak and a flinch.
"Miss me already?"
Ezreal wears a smug smile on his face, tauntingly leaning in. The explorer saddles his new backpack, heavy with supplies. The Tear of the Goddess glows as it charges his gauntlet, slotted into a crook in the metal. He looked refined - handsome almost.
"You are back?"
"Like I'd ever let you go off hunting on your own." He laughs heartily. "Mundo's orders are for me to remain here to make sure you don't break it again."
"Mundo?"
"Some Zaun boogeyman meant to scare bad children, an evil doctor who eats kids yadda yadda. Probably not real, I might add. But that's not important."
"But your parents-"
"Parents? They have to be somewhere around Shurima, so I am still technically looking for them. It's a classic win-win situation."
Ezreal is smug, Kai'Sa is quiet. She did not expect things to turn out this way; against all of her instincts and likely some of his own, Ezreal had chosen to remain by her side. To help her against the Void.
"Kai'Sa." The explorer sighs, holding onto her hand. Her armor retracts so she can feel his warmth. "You don't need to do all of this alone. Let me help you."
"This is my burden, my fight."
"But it does not have to be! Look, I - I want to help you - I really do. Someone has to catch you if you ever fall, and I want to be that someone for you."
Despite everything she had thought and said to herself, Kai'Sa found herself giving him a nod; short and curt.
"Is that a-"
"Fine."
"Great! You won't regret having the Number One-"
"Explorer and Adventurer?" Already, a rare flicker of excitement creeps onto her face. Ezreal cockily huffs when she misses one of his dumb titles. "Regardless, the Void is dangerous. It will not be easy."
"And I am all for that! I can handle the Void, at least I can handle it with you by my side. You do have those two big cannons and everything - with those two puppies, I'm sure that we can handle whatever is throws at us!"
"Hm."
His smile is a brilliant sunrise, rivalling the crescent moon above. Kai'Sa faltered at the display, an unfamiliar warmth flushing her cheeks. Brushing it aside, the girl turned back towards the temple - not willing to let him see the red on her face.
"Besides, like I said - I'll be there for you, no matter what."